Saint Cyriacus was born at Corinth to the priest John and his wife Eudokia. Bishop Peter of Corinth, who was a relative, seeing that Cyriacus was growing up as a quiet and sensible child, made him a reader in church. Constant reading of the Holy Scriptures awakened in him a love for the Lord and of…

The Martyrs Dadas, Gabdelas and Kazdoa (Kasdoe) accepted death for Christ under the Persian emperor Sapor. Dadas was chief steward under Sapor, and Saints Gabdelas and Kazdoa were the cruel emperor’s own children. Not knowing that Saint Dadas was a Christian, the emperor appointed him as…

Saint Theophanes the Merciful was an inhabitant of the Syrian city of Gaza. He was very kind and merciful. He took in vagrants, he helped the poor and the sick, and he spent all his substance on help for the needy, while he himself remained in want. Saint Theophanes did not grieve at all over the…

Saint Onuphrius of Gareji (Otar Machutadze in the world) lived and labored in the 18th century. He was a Kartlian aristocrat famed for his wealth, hospitality, and charity. Longing for the ascetic life, Otar wore a hair shirt under his distinguished raiment and unceasingly prayed to God for the…

Saint Cyprian of Ustiug was a wealthy landowner, but turning from the vanities of the world, he received the Angelic Schema with the name Cyprian at the monastery of the Holy Trinity at Gledeno. The inhabitants of the newly-established city of Ustiug begged Saint Cyprian to build a monastery…